It will take him eight weeks to recover, which means he won’t be able to return before the end of Boston’s postseason run.

With McQuaid and Dennis Seidenberg (torn ACL) sidelined, the Bruins have been leaning heavily on their young blueliners. So far it’s worked as 23-year-old Torey Krug and 20-year-old Dougie Hamilton have combined for four goals, 13 points, and a plus-five rating in seven playoff games.

“There are times when they did get caught, and I’ve got a lot of clips of that if you want,” Bruins coach Claude Julien recently said, referring to the team’s young defensemen. “But that’s how they learn; you have to teach along the way. Because they were allowed to do that, sometimes you learn from your mistakes and get better. … They’re young players who are getting better all the time, and they have learned. That is to their credit.”

Boston rallied from a 3-1 deficit on Saturday to even its series with Montreal at 1-1. Game 3 will be played on Tuesday.

He won’t be a Bruin next year. I think you might be looking at Chara, Seidenberg, Hamilton, Boychuk, Krug, Miller as your top 6 and if they fail to trade Bartkowski again (for the third time) he’ll be the 7th defenseman. I know there were a lot of rumblings about an Edler trade but I don’t see Vancouver tearing that thing apart with Torts out. McQuaid is the odd man out and, frankly, it’s not that big of a problem. Miller is basically McQuaid, and I think he’s even better.

I do too but he ain’t played since forever and had almost no place on this team as it is currently constituted. Chara, Seidenberg, Boychuk, Miller, Bartkowski, Hamilton are all ahead of him on the depth chart at this point in their respective careers. Krug simply gets it done but is an inferior defender. Bart is young and is prone to mistakes but it’s really the best skater on the defence. It is sad but Adam it’s no longer needed by this team and he is too good and too talented to be asked to platoon with the likes of Potter.

You don’t think it’s close?! The future is now and Hamilton is ahead of mcquaid today. Krug provides much more offense but less D, admittedly, Miller is making just over a million. Bart can go, no loyalty there but very affordable. McQuaid gets respect from me but too much from you I would say.
He is a 4,5 or 6 anywhere else that IS competitive. He is a solid 2 on buffalo our Vancouver for sure.

I agree with the exception of Miller. He has stepped in and in my eyes is #4 on the depth chart behind # 33, 44, & 55. This kid is a rock solid d-man. Hits, takes hits, moves the pick, will fight anyone if necessary. Most of all his rugged play is always clean. Hamilton although progressing very well is still someone McQuaid would send to the booth as a healthy scratch. This is really a nice problem to have. Hope McQuaid gets well.

I’ll take McQuaid over Bartkowski WITH a bum ankle. With that said, I have the six for next year at
Chara,Hamilton, Seidenberg, Boychuk, Miller, Krug. I don’t know what the contract situations are…
If Hamilton is not better than Seidenberg he’s getting there and will be.
Krug leaves a lot to be desired defensively but has earned his place with the power play and offense in 5v5.
I’m a big fan of Miller and what he brings is similar to McQuaid. Right now I choose Miller.

nunan - May 4, 2014 at 3:34 PM

They have some decisions to make on D. A lot of young, capable players..too many to hold onto. Between the almost executed trade for Edler and their wealth of d men, I expect some sort of trade. Bartkowski and McQuaid seem like the likely odd men out. They have a couple guys in providence pushing too. Need to create some space. Miller has played himself into a spot.

scottybcboy - May 4, 2014 at 3:39 PM

What a great problem to have……too many capable dmen in a league where they are at a premium. Kudos to the management team for ending up with this situation.

slaugin - May 4, 2014 at 5:30 PM

A 3 or 4? He was on the third D pairing when he was healthy. Kevan Millar has stepped right into McQuads role just fine and has more upside

muckleflugga - May 4, 2014 at 6:51 PM

yessssss, one less ugly low-brow bruin blighting the world is always a good thing

seeing lucic, marchand and thornton carried-off on slabs would brighten hockey considerably, if not improve the in-bred hockey pool generally

Here are a couple of projects that I wish I had the technical know-how to undertake, but I’m sure there are a few bright kids for who this would be a breeze, and they could have fun with it, and maybe turn the tide, restore some sanity.

1) Edit a video of a game between the Bruins and nos Glorieux, and add in a pinball score counter, or video game points, whichever, to keep track anytime an infraction occurs. Keep a running tally during the entire game. When Zdeno Chara grabs Max Pacioretty, holds him by the collar, bats him around the head, then throws him down, that two for holding, two for roughing, and two for roughing again. So you get Bing! Bing! Bing!, 2, then 4, then 6 minutes, in red probably, since that’s a debt owed by the NHL to us. Then Kevan Miller crosschecks Brendan Gallagher six times in the back during a puck battle, Bing! Bing! Bing!, that’s six times 2 minutes for crosschecking, by the time the points are counted another twelve minutes are added.

And so on, for whatever Sean Thornton charge or Brad Marchand slash is missed, until at the end of the game the Bruins are a hundred minutes or so in arrears, and we have thirty or fourty on the board. Cool feature, when a penalty is actually, finally called, a big green 2 minutes appears, with an ovation and fanfare and confetti, and the total is decreased by the corresponding two minutes.

It would end the discussion that refs ‘let them play’, and that ‘they let a lot of stuff go’, that it all evens out. It would be objectively clear that the Bruins are getting a free pass, that they’re allowed to cheat more, that’s how they win. It would be the harsh light of reality, and it would be fun to watch the cockroaches scatter. I would love to see Bruins fans foaming at the mouth, trying to counter this, explaining away various Brad Marchand spears as minor spears, in the grand scheme of things.

2) I think NHL Head Office got wind of this the first time I posted on this, and they’ve scrambled to rectify the imbalance, because lately we’ve had a few calls go our way, some of which left us dumbfounded. But anyway, I don’t know where to find this information, but I’m sure it’s available somewhere, namely the number of decisions made by the war room in Toronto for or against the Canadiens.

My hypothesis is simple. With enough decisions being made, every team should roughly be on the favourable end of decisions 50% of the time, and lose the other 50%. So most teams in the league, over the seasons, once enough calls get made, should tend towards that 50% score.

So do they? Or did we in the past regularly end up on the losing end of these video reviews. Reviewed in Toronto. I’d like to check on that, and on the Leafs and the Bruins score, just because I’m curious. Like I said, I’m sure this data is available somewhere.

3) The above analysis is easy to perform, since the results should be cut and dried, but the next one is more problematic. It’ll be more anecdotal, but I’d like to know what the average length of suspension is for a case reviewed by the Department of Player Safety, and then what that average is for, again, the Bruins, the Leafs, and the Canadiens. Because the Canadiens get suspended, like Ryan White, and Max, and Douglas Murray, for checks to the head, that are heat of the moment, bang-bang plays. But the Bruins, whether it be Andrew Ference, Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and his recent war against crotches, they skate away clean.

Even if it’s anecdotal evidence, I’d like some numbers to inform the discussion. It would be instructive to see how a team like the Bruins, that prides itself on its toughness, and would probably consider suspensions the cost of doing business, a side-effect of its intimidation tactics, makes out with the Department of Player Safety, under the aegis of Daddy Campbell.

nhstateline - May 5, 2014 at 9:32 AM

you must have thought that hooking call in the first period the other day was awesome!!!

nhstateline - May 5, 2014 at 9:37 AM

a few calls go your way ? We’re talking data points back to the 70’s that prove who gets most of the cheap calls in this series and it isn’t the Bruins.

Let’s put it this way, the more the Bruins can not respond to the cheap stuff the Habs do and stay out of the box, the more likely it is they win the series. 5 on 5 this series isn’t close, the Bruins are a much better team. If they don’t flop or if the flops don’t turn into penalties, they Habs season has about a week left if I had to say.

It’s funny how this has been like this in the contemporary era all the time: if the Bruins are more disciplined, the Bruins will win. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, it was a lot different. The Habs were scary good and didn’t need to resort to what they need to resort to now to win.